1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automated pipetting systems, and is concerned in particular with the provision of a low-cost disposable magazine for loading pipette tips into such systems.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This invention is especially adapted for, although not limited to, use with the PLATEMATE(trademark) pipetting systems marketed by Matrix Technologies Corp. of Hudson, N.H., U.S.A. Such systems employ rigid metal magazines, for the pipette tips. The metal magazines are expensive components and are thus continually reused in successive pipetting cycles. Magazine reuse inevitably requires laboratory personnel to frequently empty and refill them with fresh pipettes. This has been found to be a time consuming, inefficient and cumbersome procedure, but one that was deemed necessary because of the belief that only steel magazines could provide the rigidity required to resist deflection during the pipetting process.
During the pipetting process, in order to ensure a uniform seal across all of the pipette tips in the magazine, substantial force must be exerted on the magazine. If the magazine is not rigid enough, there will be some deflection across the face of the magazine.
It is important that the magazine be as flat as possible. If there is too much deflection, all of the faces of the pipette tips will not adequately seal, causing an air leak and thus uneven pipetting. The automated pipettor may be used to dispense samples into 96, 384 or 1536 well plates. It is extremely important that the pipettes be perpendicular to the magazine. If there is too much deflection and the pipette tips are slightly angled, the sample will be pipetted into an incorrect well or on a wall causing cross contamination. Precision is especially required when using the 384 or the 1536 well plates.
The objective of the present invention is to provide an improved low-cost pipette magazine which may be discarded after a single use, thus accordingly, alleviating the drawbacks associated with the prior art reusable magazines.
The present invention stems from the discovery that a pipette magazine of adequate rigidity and stiffness can be molded from a polymeric material, with the attendant reduction in costs being such that the magazine can be economically discarded after a single use.